Haunting Pasts 1-2
by Fairy Empress
Summary: A girl has a connection to both Trowa and Heero's pasts
1. Haunting Pasts 1

Author's Notes: Story takes place after Endless Waltz.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own GundamWing.  
  
  
Haunting Pasts  
  
Written by: Fairy Empress  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Prologue  
  
To fight or not to fight, wasn't that the ultimate question? In the hearts of six men, five only becoming men lately, that was the question they asked themselves every single day that they lived. When the fighting began the answer had been simple. To fight meant peace, not to meant death. Everything was black and white. One hundred percent crystal clear. So when the fighting stopped and peace was obtained what happened then?  
  
When the Endless Waltz of Wars had finally ended between the Earth and Colonies all the Gundam Pilots had to make a decision on whether or not to fight again if needed. They knew deep down maybe one day they might have to fight but also knew that Gundams had no place in their lives anymore. So each one of them, only excluding Heero and Zechs, used the self-destruct to destroy the Gundams. Heero had sent his to his friends to destroy his for him while Zechs was somehow missing in action.  
  
They began their lives as normal human boys. No more fighting for the survival of Earth and the Colonies. Each lived their own lives separate from the others, at least for a while. When the last war had ended Zechs and Noin left Earth heading to Mars as diplomats for the upcoming planet of people. No one knew what the future held but it was soon to be delivered to them.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Part 1  
A.C. 199, two years after Endless Waltz  
Mars Plateau City, Planet Mars  
  
Across space on the red planet known as Mars, wars were going on. Inner struggles of both political and religion types. Since this planet had so recently become a planet to inhabit humans things were still up in the air about most things. Only certain people were acting as buffers to keep peace among everyone.  
  
In an office that overlooked the only city on Mars, twenty stories up was a man. He wore the expression of an emotionless mask, even if his eyes spoke volumes of the frustration he was feeling. One hand was on the glass of the window, his head bent as if in a prayer yet not and his entire body language was that of being passed tired along time ago.  
  
From the small videophone on the mahogany desk, a man in a military uniform talked to the man standing in the office.  
  
"We must find out how this monster is getting past all of our detectors and destroying our very being on this planet. Nothing we use can penetrate it and I am at my wits end as to how to deal with this problem."  
  
Turning from the window, the long silver-blond hair turned with the man as he pulled the chair back and sat down in it.  
  
"At the moment I have no reason to think that this monster, as you call it, is a threat to the city itself. It is maintaining orbit around the planet and only attacking when it is attacked. The only things it has destroyed is the two space military vessels, only minor things."  
  
"Minor things are breaking this planet apart. I expect you and your partner to find this monster and have it destroyed or you might just be finding yourself on the wrong end of my wrath."  
  
Had the Sergeant fully known whom he had been addressing he never would have made such a mistake as to threaten the Lightning Count.   
  
"I assure you that this matter will be taken care of." Was all he replied with before closing the viewing screen.  
  
"Moron, he has no idea what he is dealing with." Came the words from his mouth as he spoke into the huge office.  
  
"But we do, don't we?" a female voice came and he saw the blue-black haired woman that was his partner enter and walk toward him, "it's a Gundam."  
  
"That is what amazes me, that you know what I was thinking and the fact that all the Gundams were destroyed. All the ones on Earth."   
  
Lucrezia Noin looked at her partner known both as Zechs Marquise and Milliardo Peacecraft. His blue eyes were surrounded by lack of sleep lines and his suit was heavily wrinkled that she doubted that he had slept in three days time.  
  
"Minus Tallgeese, all the other ones were destroyed," she positioned herself in the chair across the desk from him, "so where did this new Gundam, which doesn't resemble any of the others come from?"  
  
"That is the question, isn't it?"  
  
~  
  
The nightmares had been a part of who she was since she was two years old. Strange how something as dark as a nightmare could be a part of who you are. Especially since the nightmare was never remembered when she woke up but she knew she had one it was simple that she knew when a person wakes up scared and covered in sweat you had a nightmare. The loss of not remembering seemed to be the reason that she hated waking up afterwards. This time however she did remember things.  
  
Things she hadn't allowed herself to remember came flooding back like someone had pulled a lever that had been closed and was suddenly opened. She saw herself, not as she was now but the age she had been.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
A small two-year-old girl with golden haired and golden eyes that her mother said was the curious kitten in her coming out. She had finally gotten the family she wanted. Her daddy had disappeared after she was born, then this man came into her life. He was kind, smart, and loved her mom. Better was the fact that he had a kid of his own. A dark haired boy who was always lurking around being a protector and was the same age as her. His name was Kael, but only she called him that since both her mom and new dad called him the little warrior. The night that her life had changed she remembered it had been storming outside, everything in the house seemed to have a shadow around it. Her month old little brother, the little boy born of her mom and Kael's dad, was asleep in her mom's arms. Kael was playing with his machine toys and she had been sitting in front of the fireplace with her favorite doll. Her new daddy was out and was supposed to be home any minute.  
  
A sound caught both her Kael attention since it came from outside. A scrapping sound that echoed through the quiet house. Her mom looked to the two of them, standing up and handing the baby to her before going to check on the sound.  
  
"Not good." Her stepbrother announced, standing.  
  
A loud crash came from where her mother had disappeared to and the sound of glass breaking. She was scared, holding the baby in her arms.   
  
"Go hide." He told her.  
  
"No. I stay here."  
  
"Go!"   
  
She sighed and nodded, getting up and going to the small trunk that had all her mom's blankets in it that she sewed. She wrapped the baby in a blanket; he was sucking on his sucker and was deeply asleep. She lifted the lid to peek and heard Kael struggling; she leaned forward to climb out when she saw his dark blue eyes warn her to stay inside. She moved deeper into the trunk still cracking the lid to peek out. Three men were in the room and one had finally had enough, using his hand to connect with the back of Kael's skull making him go limp. She bit her lip to keep from crying out to him.  
  
"Where are the other two? He wants them both killed."  
  
"I looked around and couldn't find them. They aren't going to escape."  
  
The man that was in charge nodded. Another crash came and bullets rang out. She closed the lid and grabbed the baby in her arms holding him to her. When it seemed over, no one was there. She must have been in the trunk for a long while because light poured into the house. Pushing the lid open all the way, she made sure her little brother was okay and used one of Kael's machines to keep it open so air could get in, as she climbed out.   
  
"Mommy? Kael?"  
  
Her voice called out, in the house it echoed until she went into the kitchen. Glass was everywhere on the floor, she was wearing her little boots so it crunched under her weight. Small holes were in the walls of the room and she saw little round balls on the floor. Coming around the piece of furniture in the middle of the kitchen that mommy had said was an I-land, she saw her mommy.  
  
Lying on the floor, her head on the floor with one arm thrown in front of her. She knelt beside her mother and a hand touched the floor, coming up from the floor all sticky and covered in red-black liquid. She used her other hand to touch her mom on the shoulder.  
  
"Mommy? Wake up. Mommy, wake up."   
  
No movement came from her mom and she sat back on her legs and saw that all the glass windows and the glass door were gone, only little pieces of glass still remained on the window sill and window panes.   
  
She didn't know how long she was there. Only that she heard the baby crying and got up to go to him. She wiped her hand on her shorts and picked him up with the other hand, sitting down beside the trunk and rocked him.  
  
"Everything all right. We fine." She told him, not noticing that tears spilled from her eyes and decorated her shirt and the blanket.  
  
That was how she was found two hours later when a man came and picked them up. He looked familiar but she didn't know why. She was held by him the entire time when people came into the house and she had to have her eyes covered when they went out into the front yard but she pulled away and saw her new daddy laying on the ground with red spots on his body. The only thing that gave away that she saw it was a single tear. That was the last time she remember crying.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
She blinked to wish the memories away. Her mother dying, her stepfather, and the loss of her other brother had been the last time she wanted to feel again. She had to though, she had another brother to look after and protect. Even when that little brother didn't want it.  
  
Her little brother wasn't so little anymore, he was almost sixteen years old. Being the biggest pain in the butt had to be his job description when it came to what he was around her. She was eighteen and she was making damn sure that he was going to live to be a hundred years old, if she didn't kill him first. She smirked at that thought, since there had been times in her life she wanted to kill her only living relative for being the smart ass he had grown up to be. She loved him more than anything but sometimes; even a saint didn't have the patience to deal with that boy at times.  
  
Now that she was officially awake, she never could go back to sleep after one of her nightmares, she decided she might as well go see about the problems she had been having with a certain piece of machinery.  
  
~  
  
Zechs Marquise looked at the top five scientists that were there to give some explanation about why another Gundam was out in space destroying things again. He knew these men, knew that they were the ones that created all of those different suits and he was most interested in the scientist that had been a tutor to young Heero Yuy. That Dr. J as he was called had been the hardest to find, which made him the first one that Zechs wanted to talk to.  
  
The room that they met in wasn't a room at all but a warehouse located at the edge of the city. It was hard to get to, hard to spot since it had the same colored outside, as did the rest of the planet, which made it a perfect spot to be. He noticed that behind the scientists stood a young girl, who looked to be the same age as his sister, Relena. Why she was there had not been determined yet Noin had allowed her to be. He dismissed her from his thoughts and looked at the five very different scientists.  
  
"I have come to understand that again you five have created a Gundam. Against all the rulings and facts of why we can't have another one made and running around, you five took it upon yourselves to create one. How you did it is not the issue, though I can imagine, what I want to know is why and who exactly is the pilot of it."  
  
They all looked at one another before the two that seemed more in charge than the other three nodded. Dr. J and the one who had created the Gundam Heavy Arms.   
  
"We don't see why we need tell you anything, Zechs Marquise. We have not created one of those machines in a long while."  
  
"Oh, really? Then how come I found two of you in old abandoned gundanium junk yards?" Noin's question echoed from behind Zechs.  
  
"What we do is none of the business of the Mars planet."  
  
Noin rolled her eyes. She noticed that behind the scientist known as Dr. J, the girl she had allowed to enter for he had been getting up in years and having a companion was fine by her, was nodding her head to something she couldn't hear.  
  
"And is there something we are missing that you are agreeing too, Miss…" Noin asked.  
  
The girl only lifted her head startling Noin as she looked into the strangest colored eyes she had ever seen. Pure amber-gold in color.   
  
"Lieu tent Noin, as you can see it is useless to try to get information out of these five who have had trained Gundam Pilots and you can see how difficult it is to get information out of pilots, didn't you?"  
  
Zechs stopped his interrogation of the two scientists at the girl's words.   
  
"Unless you had actually been there, young lady, you have no idea what you are talking about."  
  
The girl turned her glaze at Zechs, noting how he held himself and all she had heard was obviously true.  
  
"Coming from the pilot of a Gundam, I take that as a offer of combat," she announced, "I do not explain things lightly, Prince Milliardo Peacecraft. Nor do I wish to be patronized by someone who left Earth with a tail between his legs when he could not rescue his younger sister, instead leaving that responsibility to a young boy."  
  
Noin's face grew tight at the girl's words. Zechs didn't show the least amount of outward emotion at what she said.   
  
"Who is this girl?"  
  
"Gee, and I thought he was supposed to be one of the best," came a amused teenage boy's voice, "guess Earth got a false impression of him if he can't figure out he's talking to the Gundam Pilot of the new system."  
  
Zechs glanced out of the corner of his eye at the young boy, to who Noin did a double take of. The boy, his dark hair falling into his eyes slightly, walked like he was a jungle cat ready to strike at any minute. That wasn't what caught her attention; it was his own dark blue eyes that seeing them up close on someone else she recognized instantly.  
  
"He looks like Heero." She said under her breath.  
  
Zechs looked at the boy as he took his place next to the girl. She only lifted an eyebrow at the barely heard words from Noin's lips. The boy, however, grinned and crossed his arms.  
  
"Guess we found him after all, didn't we?"  
  
"Seems that Heero Yuy, Gundam Pilot of Wing Zero, is our brother."  
  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Did I totally confuse some people? Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know. More to come soon.  
  
~Fairy Empress~  



	2. Haunting Pasts 2

Author's Notes: Thanks to the people who have told me how much they liked the story so far!! You guys are great encouragement to any writer.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.   
  
Haunting Pasts 2  
  
Written by: Fairy Empress  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Part 2  
A.C 200, 3 months later  
Sank Kingdom, Earth  
  
His was a nightmare he never woke up from. To have it picking at his brain every minute that he was alive. Something in him said that he should ask someone, talk to someone about it but whenever he came close to his training took over. Being the Perfect Soldier didn't allow for him to be normal or have a past, those traits were trained out of him. Only when he got the little amounts of sleep he required did his nightmares take over. With the little girl and her dog dying, due to his over kill on one of the bases causing debris to knock over to a building that was closest to it. It haunted him to see the innocence on that young girl's face; playing with her dog and only after he had blown up the area did he find the only thing that was still in one piece, her dog. They both had died, due to his carelessness. The dreams now were different, as though he was looking through someone else's eyes.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
The minute he saw his new mom leave the room and the shattering noise of glass he turned his eyes to his new sister and baby brother.  
  
"Go hide." He demanded.  
  
Her determined golden eyes looked into his blue ones and she answered, "No, I stay here."  
  
"Go!"   
  
He watched her sigh and climb into the trunk with their little brother in her arms. He turned to see three men enter the room. One he recognized because he was the one his dad had gotten into an argument with two days before. He was his mom's other husband and his sister's dad. The other two seemed to be working for him and that made the boy mad. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the lid to the trunk lift up and saw his sister's eyes looking at him. He silently wished her to stay in the trunk and she seemed to understand, closing the lid. The man saw him, spotted him right away and motioned to one of the other two to grab him. An arm came into his line of vision and he knocked it away and ducked behind the man, only to be stopped with a well placed blow to the back of his head.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
That was all he remembered. He had woken up; still dressed in his flannel p.j's in a small room were a man he came to know as Odin Lowe trained him to be an assassin. He never forgot about his sister being brave enough to stay in the trunk and protect their infant brother. He had worried for a long time whether or not the two had lived before putting them out of his mind. His concern was on the present, not the past. Because he was never allowed to have a past and Kael Yuy had been dead for sixteen years.  
  
~ ~ ~  
Same Time  
On route to Earth  
  
The nightmares came every night from the first time. Each nightmare was from a different part of her life. She woke up scared and in pain, reliving the nightmares in her dreams was almost as bad as having lived them for real. Not even with the two people she was closest to could make her stop shaking and feeling helpless to the dreams. It got so bad that she tried to keep from sleeping, until Zechs and Noin had seen to it that she got sleep regularly and not in the couple of hours at a time she usually did. It helped the nightmares to calm down some but she wished she could just fall into a dreamless slumber.  
  
Zechs was still adjusting that the reckless, flamboyant, and out-going teenage girl was the latest Gundam pilot. She didn't fit the mold as the rest of them had. Each boy in his own way had been a loner, each one had little to no family minus Quatre, and each did the Gundam piloting reluctantly. Even Heero wouldn't have picked to be a Gundam pilot willingly. The girl in front of him did it without a second thought, as if being in the Gundam would somehow put the demons of her past aside. He could sympathize with it; he had used his own mask to hide his demons from the rest of the world. Even now, three months after meeting the girl and her brother he felt he had known the two forever.   
  
After that faithful day, he had watched over the girl. He recognized her recklessness, her need to be taken out of herself if just for a moment. The fact that she was, something he still doubted, Heero's sister may have made him pick up on her moods than anyone else. The boy, Lance, was Heero's double in looks. The same unruly dark hair, which Lance wore longer than Heero and the same steel-blue eyes. Lance was leaner and a couple of inches shorter, but was still growing. Unlike his elder brother he was a charmer. He had his older sister wrapped around his pinky and was out-going in the extreme ways. He also met two of the reasons she did what she did.  
  
~  
  
A month after the first meeting  
Planet Mars  
  
Getting information out of the two, at first, had been like pulling teeth. Dr. J was obviously fond of the girl and boy as he had been of Heero. Something in his partner's eyes, the one that created Heavy Arms, when he looked at the girl said something about his caring for her as well. All of them were unusually protective of this pilot compared to the five others, and instructed her more ruthlessly than even Heero had been trained. At first, when he came by on a whim and saw the severe beating that she was being given he went to intervene stopping after realizing that it was just a simulation that she was giving Lance. She pinned her younger brother easily and grinned as she stood up, glancing up to the overhead stairway seeing Zechs looking down on her. He could have sworn he saw a glimpse of pain in the golden cat eyes of hers. Only after that day did the girl open up to him and Noin.  
  
Her name, which was really her codename, was Artemis. It was what everyone on Mars called her, along with the name Golden Goddess for her tawny-gold hair and gold eyes. The Golden Goddess was her name she used when she sung, that surprised both him and Noin that the young girl who was trained to be an assassin, sung. She did so every couple of nights, every time at a different club. Noin told him once that Artemis seemed to do that to protect herself, it wasn't conscious that she did it but rather subconsciously. Like she was covering her tracks without really realizing it.  
  
Finding out more about Artemis had been harder. She didn't respect Zechs, had said as much when they first met practically calling him a coward for abandoning his sister to Heero's rescuing. Only after he followed her back to the place she lived, a very exclusive building, which shocked him a bit and then followed her on her Black Knight motorcycle to an aggressive racing track where Lance raced. She took off her black helmet; her ponytail kept her long hair from moving around due to the dust winds and walked through a wire gate until she was in the dugout where Lance's fans were cheering for him as he made his way around the track. His was one of the best, his movements timed and almost cat-like. Zechs stood behind her and watched. Gone un-noticed by the two of them was a small shadow sitting on Artemis's bike, with smoky-gray eyes carefully watching the two.  
  
"You know if you wanted to know where I was going you could of asked." She stated, not bothering to turn around. The thirteen other people in the dugout ignored the two, minus one pixie-haired girl with hazel eyes.  
  
"Would you have answered?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what would have been the point."  
  
The pixie girl grinned, turning from looking out at Lance's race to Artemis and Zechs.  
  
"He thinks like you, Temi."  
  
"Do me a favor, Jules and stop while your ahead," Artemis glanced behind her to the khaki and brown-leather jacketed Milliardo, "the guy is nothing like me."  
  
"If you say so, kid. I know a familiar soul like yours anywhere."  
  
With that, the girl turned her glaze and mind to the race in progress. Zechs smirked at the girl's insight.  
  
"Familiar soul?"  
  
"Jules believes that people have familiar souls to one another. That there are types of souls in this world. Warriors, pacifists, antagonists, heroes, and suicidal butting-in brunettes," Artemis added and saw Jules lift up her left hand and extend her middle finger.  
  
Zechs nodded.  
  
"So what is it you want, Peacecraft?" Artemis asked, using the scornful 'Peacecraft' as she always did.  
  
"Are you ever going to give people a straight answer?"  
  
"Ask the right question and I might consider it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why? Why what? Why do I do what I do? Why am I am who I am? That's not the right question, Peacecraft. Leaves too much open to interpretation."  
  
"Do you love your brother?" he asked, making her turn her head and glare at him with her golden eyes.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Would you die to protect him?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why is it that you have yet to explain why you involve him in something that could kill him without realizing it."  
  
"Because that is the only way to protect him."  
  
He narrowed his eyes, as she turned her back on the race.  
  
"You protected Relena by leaving her to grow up as Relena Dorlain, Ambassador Dorlain's adopted daughter. She was loved, cared for, and protected until she met Heero Yuy. Her life changed and she was in constant danger not only from Oz but any terrorist group. Being her hidden brother gave you an advantage of protecting her from certain things but not falling in love with a teenage boy trained to be an assassin or becoming Vice-Foreign Minister which put even more danger into her life," she paused, "my way of protecting Lance is to keep him near danger so that he doesn't need to learn about it or be afraid. He grew up around it, his fear has been learned so that he accepts it and learns it is not bad to be afraid but to learn that a measure of fear has it's place in keeping a person alive."  
  
"Then why put yourselves in danger at all. You don't need to be a Gundam pilot."  
  
"Did you? Can you honestly tell me that you needed to be a pilot or that you wanted to be one? My choice protects me and my brother."  
  
"From whom?"  
  
"Whomever. I am not fragile and I don't break. If I was I would have been dead a long time ago."  
  
"So instead you put yourself in constant danger to use as a protection?"  
  
"That's one way of putting it. I don't have the luxury of turning off what I have to do to survive any more than you can."  
  
"You're what? Eighteen years old and he's sixteen? Is that how you want to live the rest of your life?"  
  
"Listen, I don't need some washed up pilot invading my life and telling me how to live it. I didn't ask you to become a protector to my damsel in distress, I don't think Noin would enjoy that too much," she smiled at his slightly clenched teeth.  
  
"What about Heero? Have you thought that maybe his little brother would like to live to meet him?"  
  
She moved forward to stand in front of him.  
  
"I don't think that Heero needs us invading his space, he's a big boy."  
  
"So that big show about finally finding him in the hanger was just a big joke?"  
  
"Mind your own business, Peacecraft and stay out of mine."  
  
She heard the crowd cheering and Lance's name being called out of the loud speaker.  
  
"You are my business as long as you continue to attack Austin Enterprise and the Military."  
  
"See you at the war then."  
  
She walked past him and to where her brother was surrounded by fans. His eyes met hers and he nodded. Getting back to her bike, a small smile played on her lips as she motioned to the shadow beside it.  
  
~  
  
When Artemis got to the big apartment, the entire top floor belonged to Zachary Hawkstein. He was a multi-billion dollar made man, eight years older than Artemis and due to an protective move to keep a bullet out of Artemis, it ended up in his back. He was now permanently in a wheel chair with no movement or feeling in his legs.   
  
Lance got into the apartment, shaking out his dark hair from the dust as Zack came around the wide spaced corridors. He lifted an eyebrow at the dust settling on the hard wood floors and at the dust that littered the biker's clothes.   
  
"Please do go ahead and put dirt all over the floor when I just had it cleaned," came the light brown haired man's sarcastic comment.  
  
"Sure thing, Zack," Lance dusted off his jacket so that more dust fell on the floor and grinned at Zack's rolling eyes.  
  
"Why don't you go take a bath and stop antagonizing Zack, Lance."  
  
He shrugged and headed to the left where the bathrooms were.  
  
Zack shook his head and went into the living room as Artemis followed. She sat on the plush couch and watched Zack glance at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Had another spar with Zechs I take it?"  
  
"Gee, how'd you guess?"  
  
"What was it this time?"  
  
"My putting Lance in danger and why I'm a Gundam pilot," she scuffed, "like it's any of his business."  
  
Zack saw how tense and moody she had gotten since Zechs started being in her life. Noin was someone he was sure Artemis could trust after having met the woman two weeks ago at a benefit; he was still fuzzy on Zechs.  
  
"Why don't you let him know? Or at least Noin? I know they'd understand."  
  
"Let them know? What that I am destroying these military posts because they aren't military posts but spy satellites for terrorists and Austin Enterprises, a company with a squeaky clean rep is behind it? Whose gonna believe me?"  
  
"They have done these types of things before. Noin is a Preventer."  
  
"Lucky her, is she a girl scout too?"  
  
"Temi…."  
  
"Look, I'm sorry alright," she stood and began to pace back and forth in front of the window, "it's just they wouldn't understand."  
  
"Right. Like Zechs doesn't know what it's like to loose all his family due to someone else's greed, ambition or jealousy. I'm sure they couldn't possibly know what you went through."  
  
"Shut up, Zack." Artemis said, silently cursing him for being right.  
  
"You have to admit it would be nice to have help," Zack stopped and turned to face her, "What about Heero or your friend?"  
  
"I don't want them involved, okay? This is my problem, not theirs."  
  
Zack's hand reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him.  
  
"It was his family, too. Don't you think after all these years he needs you both in his life just as much as you need him?"  
  
"I don't need him."  
  
"Then why did you spend all that time hunting for him, learning he was a Gundam pilot and proceeding to become one yourself? Those aren't the actions of someone who doesn't need or care."  
  
"Whose brother is he anyway? Yours or mine?" she growled.  
  
"Believe me, I don't know if I could stand to have the Perfect Soldier as my brother. One wrong move and you can kiss your brains goodbye."  
  
"Such a good role model for Lance." She said with a laugh.  
  
"As apposed to the reckless, headstrong Gundam female pilot with resentment as her bed buddy?"  
  
She jerked her arm away from him and sighed.  
  
"Fine, you win. I'll talk to Noin. But hell will freeze over before I confide anything to Peacecraft."  
  
"Your choice of course."  
  
"Why do I let you talk me into these things?"  
  
"Part of my appeal who else would deal with your moodiness?"  
  
"Amen to that." Lance's amused voice came from down the hall.  
  
Behind him was a very pretty five-year-old girl, her long raven hair separated into two braided ponytails and she looked up at Artemis with a genuine smile.  
  
"Temi!"  
  
Artemis opened her arms to let the girl in them, closing them around the pre-teen. Over her head Lance and Zack traded looks. If one person in this world cared more about a child that was not there own, they had yet to meet them. The closest person the little girl ever had for a mother was the one who had her in her arms.   
  
"Hey, Savannah. Behaving for Zack?"  
  
"Sure am. He took me swimming today and I held my breath for thirty whole seconds." The little girl proclaimed proudly.  
  
Artemis let her out of the hug and looked into the same golden eyes that they shared. Standing still in the doorway were the two shadows. One a small boy with odd-multi colored eyes and a mix of brown, white, and cream colored hair. The other was a full-grown man with gray eyes and black as night hair. Both moved without making a sound and were fading into the background.  
  
"Did you keep her company, Connor?" Artemis asked, startling the boy who looked up from the ground to see her smiling face.  
  
"Of course, Miss Temi. I always watch after Sava."   
  
Artemis nodded at the eight year old. He was still extremely skittish and shy. His only real friend was Savannah, or Sava, as they usually called her. Even being with her for these past three and a half years he was still wary of people in general.   
  
"I know you do," she saw Sava grin at him and he returned her grin with a small smile, "and she enjoys your company. So you think you two could stay out of trouble long enough for me to shower and change?"  
  
"Going out?"  
  
"Yes, and if you want the two of you can come with."  
  
Savannah nodded and taking Connor's hand ran out of the room, tugging him along.  
  
"So, where are you going, sis?" Lance asked, placing his hands on the back of the couch.  
  
"To see Noin and get some things straightened out."  
  
Lance glanced as she left the room and both him and Zack looked to her shadow. The man was the closest thing she had to a bodyguard and peacemaker in her life. He watched over her even when she didn't need it, something he had taken seriously since the day she had saved his and his nephew's lives.  
  
"Tell me you agree with me, Hunter, that I am not making a total mistake by getting her to meet with Noin." Zack asked.  
  
"If you think I would not disagree, you are correct. Artemis has enough worries without adding them into her list."  
  
"You've investigated them both," Zack stated, "what do you think of them?"  
  
"My opinion doesn't matter. Artemis will decide what she thinks is best to protect us."  
  
"What about protecting her?" Lance asked.  
  
"That's my job."  
  
~  
  
Showered, dressed, and ready to do a battle of information with Noin was Artemis thirty minutes later. She saw the black cat sitting in the middle of her bed, curled into a ball. She leaned over and petted it gently on the head. It looked up and yawned at her.  
  
"Excuse me for disturbing your sleep," she laughed.  
  
In a blink of an eye the cat was gone and in place was Hunter. His feline half causing him to stretch from the brief sleep.   
  
"Every time you do that I still feel like it's some magic show, you know?"  
  
"In three years you should be used to it by now." He told her amused.  
  
"Right," she scoffed, "like you won't be amazed if I turned into a cobra or something right in front of you."  
  
An eyebrow lifted, "A cobra? More like a viper."  
  
She stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"Anyone seeing you now wouldn't think you were a trained Gundam pilot, adopted mother to a five year old and the soul worrier about a sixteen year old boy."  
  
"See what you get when you shadow me? Seeing my multiple personalities be afraid." She mocked.  
  
"Like a thing like you could frighten someone like me."   
  
"Oh, I forgot that Familiars don't get scared, so I wonder where the term scaredy-cat came from?" she asked with fake puzzlement.  
  
"From regular house cats, not members of the Familiar clan."  
  
"And being a half-human half-feline makes you the best of two worlds, right?"  
  
"Just about. Plus with bonuses of people that don't know about Familiars and just think of me or Connor as regular housecats."  
  
"Like housecats can really turn into lions, tigers, or panthers at command." Came the sarcastic record.  
  
"Don't forget leopards, bobcats, or any other type of large feline."  
  
"Okay, now let's be serious for a moment, my feline friend," she started as he climbed off the bed and leaned against her bedpost, "do you think I'm doing the right thing?"  
  
"Why do you humans always ask questions when you already know the answers?"  
  
She hit him in the arm and saw an amused grin come over his face.  
  
"So, shall we collect the children and be off then?"  
  
"Whatever you say."  
  
~  
  
It turned out that everyone went with her to see Noin. Zack had called ahead and Noin was meeting them at Zack's company building. Artemis entered the room first spotting Noin sitting on one of the leather couches and Peacecraft in a single velveteen chair. Her eyes narrowed at Zechs being there. When they all were in the private sitting room, Hunter closed the door and faded into the woodwork.   
  
"Very nice to see you again, Miss Noin, Mr. Marquise." Zack said, shaking hands with the two as they stood up.  
  
Lance only nodded to the two, making his way to another leather couch that was across from Noin's while Savannah held Artemis's hand and Connor stood behind them.  
  
"I agreed to meet with Noin, not him." Artemis said coldly looking directly at Zechs.  
  
"All people make sacrifices in life, Temi," Zack said between his teeth.  
  
"Some people make their own destiny when it comes to sacrifices."  
  
Savannah saw the man called Zechs glance at her then at the connection of hands she and Temi had.  
  
"I'm Savannah Austin." She announced, politely.  
  
Both of them looked to Artemis at the word of 'Austin' being linked to the little girl.   
  
"I'm Noin, Savannah, and this is Zechs Marquise."  
  
Savannah smiled at the blue-black haired woman with kind blue eyes.  
  
"And who are your other friends?" Zechs asked.  
  
"This is Connor and Hunter," Artemis told him coolly and motioned for the two to sit next to Lance, who picked up Savannah onto his lap, "now if we are done with the pleasantries?"  
  
Zechs glanced to Savannah and Connor, who seemed undisturbed by what was going on. His glance saw Lance at ease and the man named Hunter only observing. Instinct told him that something was off about that man.  
  
"You called this meeting, Artemis," Noin said, "mind telling us what you would like to talk about?"  
  
"Yes," Artemis said and Lance took that queue to take the two younger ones in the room connecting and she addressed Savannah, "I'm going to be talking grown-up talk in here, sweetheart. So Lance is going to take you and Connor next door into Zack's office and let you play with his new VR system, okay?"  
  
Sava got off Lance's lap and looked at her.  
  
"Okay, but you owe me an ice cream."  
  
"Sure thing, sweet pea."  
  
Lance rolled his eyes at having to watch over the two but knew what was going to be said he already knew about. As the door closed behind them, she turned her attention back on the two.  
  
"So was that just a display of some image you want us to buy into?" Zechs asked.  
  
"No, that wasn't some image. Bringing them here was part of my reason for talking to you at all," Artemis looked at Noin, "I didn't want to talk to Peacecraft at all even though what I am about to say he might be able to relate to."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"First off, my attacks on the Austin Enterprises and Military are founded," she paused, "ever heard of Nicholas Drake?"  
  
"The guy who took over Austin Enterprises when the heirs were killed." Noin filled in.  
  
"Right, only those heirs weren't killed. They were murdered. You see about nineteen years ago a young girl named Amber Peterson married the eldest of two sons that were the inheritors to the great Austin Enterprises, a company created by their grandfather. Amber married Cole Austin, who was a very ambitious and cold-hearted man. After a couple of months Amber became pregnant and gave birth to a little girl, Samantha. Being from a very males-are-only-worthy family Cole didn't care too much for the fact that his first-born was a girl. In fact it drew him into the arms of woman other than his wife, this cause Amber to divorce him and in a year became married to another man. His man had a very influential older brother, I think you have heard of him his name was Heero Yuy."  
  
"Heero Yuy? The peacekeeper?"  
  
"That would be him. Elliot Yuy was Heero's younger brother. Like Amber, he had a child from his previous marriage and this child was a boy called Kael. Kael and Samantha got along really well, better than they should have given their broken homes. Amber became pregnant again and had a son. Elliot was proud of his family. That's when disaster strikes. Elliot was coming back from a business trip and the other four were in the house. Heero Yuy had been killed just a year from that day, when a very jealous man decided he wanted his wife and daughter back. This time though he wanted them dead. He killed his wife, but couldn't find his daughter or his wife's other child. He had found Elliot outside in the yard and shot him in the back and was faced by a very determined little boy. Unfortunately for Cole another group had been after the family that same night and there was a big shoot out. Cole along with his three companions ended up dead along with two assassins that had been hired. One assassin left, he was the one who took Kael. Meanwhile, Samantha had hidden in the trunk that her mother kept blankets along with the infant boy. She was rescued by a very kind man, but scarred from what had happened. She had just turned two years old."  
  
Artemis stopped, realizing that maybe telling them so much wasn't a good idea but somehow she knew deep down it was for the best.  
  
"She was raised by a man with equal power to the Austin power but he was a friend of both Elliot Yuy and Alexander Austin, who was Samantha's uncle. Alexander took in the little girl and boy raising them with his daughter, Sabrina. Sabrina was four years older than Samantha and acted more like a sister than a cousin. Alexander had been running the business for about three years when it was going bankrupt; one of the most powerful companies in the galaxy was going bankrupt. So a young man by the name of Nicholas Drake came into the picture just at the right time looking like a god sent. Alex was very happy to hand over the company to Nick with one condition that he marries his only child, Sabrina to keep the company in the family. Sabrina was nine at this time and nowhere near marriage age. Her younger cousin was only seven and wary of Nick. Neither girl trusted him much and even less when Alex two years later for no apparent reason died. It left three kids under the control of Nick, who was twenty-seven. At eleven, nine and seven the three had to endure a perfect image on the outside and hell on the inside. It only got worse as they got older until things changed and Nick got so violent that Sabrina, at sixteen took the younger two with her and left. They moved from place to place for a few months when Nick caught up with them, this time they did escape for almost a year. By then, Sabrina had given birth to a little girl of her own. Nick found the three and had Sabrina murdered. Only by the timing of a young boy saved the other two and baby. After that Nick disappeared, now secretly running the company Austin Enterprises like his own assassin/spy ring paying off the military and getting them involved in it."  
  
"So where does that put you? Avenging a murdered girl?" Noin asked.  
  
"You're Samantha Austin." Zechs stated.  
  
"Correct. Noin is correct to a point, I do avenge Sabrina but I have reasons beyond and between this story that I don't think are necessary to tell right now. Like the little girl next door, Savannah who never knew her mother or the fact that Lance is my brother and never knew either of his parents because of two men's greed and jealousy."  
  
"How do you know Nick is running an assassin group out of Austin Enterprises?"  
  
"Because he hired Artemis." Zack stated.  
  
~ ~  
  
On route to Earth  
  
All of those events happened over two months ago, the talking and getting to understand where Artemis/Golden Goddess/Samantha Austin-Yuy was coming from. Two months now and he thought if he was in her place he would be have done a hell of a lot more than she did. Especially to Nicholas Drake. She had yet to fill in the huge whole in her tale and he could just imagine the memories that went with it. He and Noin got into her life and found out about her nightmares. Once she had even explained exactly what happened the night that her life changed the first time. Now all he had to do was figure out how to stop Nick from killing again and get the Gundam pilots involved without letting Artemis know. He knew she was a target from Nick, not as Artemis but as Samantha, as were all the people she held dear. Only from these past two weeks had they learned anything concrete on what was going to happen and it scared him. For Nick had connections that he, Zechs and Milliardo, didn't have. He was going to kill Relena and the entire Unified Nations, along with the Preventers and ex-Gundam pilots. He had the information, the manpower, and the will. Right now all they could do was hope they got to Earth before he did.  
  
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
It ended up being 14 pages and still not enough was said. I haven't even gotten to where Trowa enters the picture yet or given more detail on Heero's end of this either. The next part should be done soon. Hope you enjoyed this and weren't too confused. I know I skipped around so if you read it twice I think you should understand what I did. Everything else should be explained in the next couple of parts. Like who Hunter actually is, what his and Zack's whole in Artemis's life is and how they came into it, and what part Trowa plays in her life.  
  
~Fairy Empress~  



End file.
